Commercial Roofing
A bucket in a classroom corner after a heavy rain tells a facility director the roof has failed, but it does not say which of the building's several roofs did it, and a school may have a dozen. Edinburg, TX counts a school district among its major employers, and a campus there, whether an elementary school or a high school with a gym and cafeteria, can carry several kinds of roof at once. The classroom wing, the gym, the cafeteria, the covered walkways and the mechanical rooms each have their own roof and their own age.
We start with a roof-by-roof map of the campus. Each leak is followed from the stain to the one roof above it, and the findings are filed in a photo record keyed to the campus drawing.
Campus roofs fail differently depending on what they are. Classroom wings have low-slope membranes with many rooftop units and a lot of foot traffic from service. Gyms and cafeterias have large spans, long seams and tall walls with deep roof-to-wall transitions. Covered walkways have light membranes or metal panels that take the full force of wind.
We check each roof's details first: unit curbs, parapet flashings, scuppers and drains, and the places where a lower roof meets a taller wall. A scupper that has been blocked by debris fills the lower roof with water that finds the nearest seam. A campus built out in stages can have tie-in joints that open over time. A leak in a classroom hallway often traces to a transition, not the field of the roof. A drain and scupper repair can stop a recurring leak without any membrane work.
Water that gets past a school's membrane soaks into the insulation and runs along the deck until it drips at a light fixture, a ceiling grid joint or a duct penetration, often some distance from the entry. Sometimes it follows a pipe or conduit chase to a different room.
A teacher's or custodian's report (room, date, weather) goes onto the roof drawing, and we walk the likely path from the roof side with a meter or an infrared camera. In a school, wet ceiling materials need prompt attention for health reasons, so we tell the facility director about readings that suggest the ceiling space is affected. The roof-side question is how far the repair has to go. A moisture survey before a summer project gives the district a measured basis for the scope, which supports budgeting and bidding.
The campus is split into numbered roof areas, each logged with its membrane type, condition and age where records exist. Every area is photographed from its hatch or ladder, then walked edge first, then units, drains, seams and transitions, in the same order each year so reports can be laid side by side.
Roofs are ranked by condition and by the rooms under them, which lets a district fund the worst first. A commercial roof inspection at the end of each school year, before summer work is bid, gives facility staff a current picture and a basis for choosing which roofs to repair, restore or replace.
The Valley's heat-safety season runs May through October and overlaps the summer break, when most roof work happens. Heat wears sealants and flexes the seams and flashings every afternoon. A reflective surface reduces the load on the cooling system, which in a school runs through the hottest months.
Tropical weather arrives at the start of the school year. Hurricane readiness covers June through October. Dolly's gusts crossed the county, and Hanna's wind and flooding in July 2020 reached Edinburg itself. After a storm we check edges, flashings, covered walks and rooftop equipment, then drains. A hurricane damage repair file gives the district and its insurer the same dated photographs.
Repair suits a roof where the damage is local and the membrane beside it holds. A coating restoration suits dry insulation and sound seams on a roof that needs more years. A replacement belongs to roofs with moisture across large areas, leaks that return or a membrane that has failed. A district weighs these against a limited summer window and a budget cycle.
The photo record and moisture readings let a facility director present the choice with evidence. Price follows layers, wet insulation, equipment lifts, access and the length of the window. If a roof cannot be finished in one summer, a phased plan completes it in sections, each dried in before students return. The plan also notes the code path: the city's adopted 2018 building and energy codes frame the permit.
Public buildings also carry paperwork. A district may need a scope that can be bid, drawings that show each roof area, and a closeout file that a future facility director can pick up cold. We build the photo record so it can serve that purpose: roof areas are numbered the same way in every document, each repair is located on the drawing and each test result is dated. When a board member or a parent asks why a roof is on next year's list, the record answers with photographs and readings.
The best window is summer, but not all work waits for it, and some campuses run summer programs. We ask the facility director for the calendar, including summer school, athletics, camps and events, and we plan the work around occupied areas. Lifts, staging and debris chutes stay away from entrances, bus lanes and play areas, and the work area is fenced. A custodian or assistant principal is named as the daily contact, so a teacher with a question about noise or a closed walkway has one person to call instead of finding the crew.
Noisy steps are scheduled for hours when classes are not in session in the affected wing. Intakes are covered or moved clear of the work, and nothing stays open past the afternoon dry-in, with covers staged for sudden rain. Because the storm season starts in June, the forecast is checked each morning. A district with campuses in Edinburg, Mission and Pharr gets matching files for every school. Scheduling here resembles college and university roofing and, for event calendars, church roofing.
Small repairs can, in sections away from occupied rooms. Larger projects are set for summer or breaks, with phased plans if time is short.
Tall walls create deep roof-to-wall transitions, and the flashing there moves with the structure. We inspect those joints closely.
We respond at the roof, protect the opening and trace the entry. If the ceiling is wet, the facility team handles the interior while we fix the source.
Roof area numbers, membrane type, condition, moisture readings and photographs, ranked by what sits below each roof.
The district works through the city under its adopted 2018 codes, and the scope names insulation and fastening so the review has what it needs.